The saving and spending habits of young people
Adrian Furnham *
Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1 0AP, UK
Received 8 December 1998; received in revised form 18 February 1999; accepted 12 June 1999
Abstract
Over 250 British children and adolescents completed a questionnaire on their sources of personal income (pocket money/allowance, part-time job, gifts), as well as how much they had saved, where it was stored, and for what purpose it was intended. Particular attention was paid to bank accounts. The participants also responded to various attitude statements about money and the economic situation in general. Results showed numerous sex and age, but few class dierences. Males received more pocket money and presents than females, and older children more than younger children. Over 80% of the children claimed their parents would not give them extra money if they had spent it all. Regressional analyses showed that the best pre-dictors of regularity of saving, as well as the proportion of money saved, were the more money received; the less money spent in the previous week and total amount of money saved in the previous week. The results are discussed in terms of the limited empirical literature on chil-dren's pocket money allowances, particularly with respect to demographic dierences. Limi-tations of the methodology are also reported. Ó 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.
PsycINFO classi®cation:3040
JEL classi®cation:A05; A06; A17; A81; B13; D19; D20
Keywords:Adolescents; Allowances; Parents; Saving; Money
www.elsevier.com/locate/joep
*Tel.: +44-1713877050/5395; fax: +44-1714364276. E-mail address:[email protected] (A. Furnham)
1. Introduction
This paper addresses the question of why, where and how children and adolescents save money they have been given (allowances, pocket money), or personally earned. There are a few studies on young people's understanding of banking (Jahoda, 1981; Ng, 1983, 1985; Takahashi & Hatano, 1994), but far fewer on children's saving (Dickens & Ferguson, 1957; Sonuga-Barke & Webley, 1993; Goudge & Green, 1986; Ward, Wackman & Wartella, 1997), though this is changing (Waerneryd, 1998).
While there are numerous formal economic theories for why adults save (Keynes, 1936; Duesenberry, 1949; Modigliani & Brumberg, 1954; Fried-man, 1957), there is less psychological research on actual saving particu-larly among children and adolescents (Katona, 1975; Kerr & Cheadle, 1997; Furnham, 1985, 1987, 1999; Webley, Levine & Lewis, 1991). Lunt and Livingstone (1991) argued that adult saving is related to an individ-ual's life events, coping strategies and social networks. In their study of British adults, they were able to account for 65% of the explained variance in actual recurrent saving. Livingstone and Lunt (1993) examined in par-ticular the relationship between saving and borrowing. Habitual or regular savers were found to have dierent psychological motivations from bor-rowers, seeing debt either as a failure or as a normal part of everyday life. People who saved and had savings, while simultaneously having debts, felt more optimistic and in control of their lives than those who had debts but no savings (Furnham, 1997). Thus, debt seemed to be related to moral issues and savings to optimism. The results showed very clearly that sav-ings and borrowing are neither simply opposites or independent behav-iours.
($2.32 vs $2.42), but those who did not receive an allowance spent much more with a credit card ($2.82) than when they only had cash ($1.76). After they had ®nished in the store, the children were given a pricing test in which they had to say how much familiar items (e.g. running shoes, televisions) cost. Children who received an allowance scored higher on this test, as did the older children. These results suggest that receiving an allowance may facili-tate the development of monetary competence, though this result remains disputed (Furnham & Argyle, 1998). The amount, regularity and rules at-tached to allowances may be equally predictive of monetary understanding and usage as is whether it is received at all.
Sonuga-Barke and Webley (1993) argue that children's behaviour and understanding of saving ± like all economic behaviour ± is constructed within the social group, and are ful®lled by particular individuals, aided by insti-tutional and other social factors and facilities. They believe one needs a child-centred view of economic activity, examining children as economic agents in their own right, solving typical economic problems such as resource alloca-tion. They argue that the literature on this topic suggests that children do save more money as they grow older, but it is not clear why. Certainly, it must be voluntary, though it could be discretionary or contractual. In a series of methodologically diverse and highly imaginative experimental studies, Sonuga-Barke and Webley (1993) found children recognise that saving is an eective form of money management. Children realise that putting money in the bank can form both defensive and productive functions. The children valued saving because it seemed socially approved and rewarded. Saving was seen in their studies and understood as a legitimate and valuable behaviour, not an economic function. However, as children get older, they appear to understand and challenge these assumptions, but inevitably see the practical advantage in saving.
There are various popular books for parents and ``young people'', dis-pensing advice about saving and spending (Rendon & Kranz, 1992). Davis and Taylor (1979) recommend that children as young as six and seven years old should be encouraged to save for a relatively inexpensive item that may be purchased in a matter of weeks. They argue that children should be taught to save for emergencies, to make the best use of opportunities, and to acquire the concept of interest. Saving, they argue, also oers an opportunity to learn about investments and shares, as well as the rules attached to borrowing money. Godfrey (1993) recommends that even pre-schoolers store their money in three jars with quite speci®c purposes for the money in each: the ®rst jar for ``quick change'' (money to be spent at any time); the second for ``medium-term savings'' (two to four weeks for a speci®c item); and the third for ``long-term savings''. She also recommends family banking where all members of the family discuss how money for joint projects is stored, taxed and spent.
Bodnar (1997) notes the existence of banks in America aimed speci®cally at children. She found the average saving customer of the Young Americans Bankis 9 years old and has a balance of $450. She recommends three ways to encourage saving: insist children divide their allowance into three piles (spend, save and give to charity); demand a half-and-half plan which requires that half of all income is saved, or the easier spare-change method where only notes are spent and coins saved (or vice versa). ``To raise a generation of super savers, give them a reason to save. To keep them interested, reward them for their efforts. To guarantee their success, devise a system that makes saving easy'' (p. 75).
Books aimed at young people themselves seem less prescriptive. Thus Rendon and Kranz (1992) advise American children to keep anything under $100 at home. ``A piggy bank, a money box, a special hiding place in a desk or dresser drawer, or some other private place could be a good place to keep your savings. However, be sure that you really have chosen a safe place'' (p. 91). They note the rudimentary facts of savings accounts to their young readers and add (sagely) that money being relatively inaccessible helps people to save.
dicult to measure accurately and working class children often dicult to test. Older children received more money, saved more, and were more likely to go shopping than younger children. This study focuses on a slightly older age band of children, 11±16 year olds, as they typically begin secondary school. It is at this age that economic understanding and activity increase (Lunt & Furnham, 1996).
The three demographic variables examined suggest some obvious hy-potheses. It may be expected that age is the most powerful predictor of saving. Older children would get and save more money, spend their money differently (on different items) and be more interested in, and take part in, banking, saving and business more than young people. All relevant studies in this area have demonstrated the effect of age differences particularly around the time of going to secondary school (Furnham & Thomas, 1984a,b). Sec-ondly it was anticipated that there would be numerous sex differences. Davies and Lea (1995) found females (at university) to be less comfortable with debt and better money managers. Hence it was predicted that they would save more and borrow less than males. However because of differences in socialization it was predicted males would be more involved in banking than females (Furnham & Argyle, 1998). Finally numerousclass differences were expected if there was suf®cient numbers of young people from middle and working class backgrounds in the sample. It was predicted that the higher the social class the more money participants saved and the more ex-perience they would have of the formal economic world of banks. Previous studies have indicated that working class children often receive more money through allowances than middle class children and get involved in the workings of the economy (through jobs) earlier than middle class children. Alas in this study it was not possible to test the hypothesis about class dif-ferences because of the limited number of working class participants.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
71 (26%) were working class. They were drawn from three schools from rather dierent demographic catchment areas in the South East of England.
2.2. Questionnaire
Each participant was given an eight page questionnaire. The ®rst part looked speci®cally at how much money the participants earned, how and why they saved it, and on what they spent it. This was followed by 20 attitude statements about spending and saving that were rated on an agree/disagree scale. These items were derived from the above cited, salient literature. Items were drawn from many sources and piloted for their suitability with this age group.
2.3. Procedure
All participants were tested in their class-time by their class teachers. The questionnaire took about 40 minutes to complete and some younger par-ticipants required help. After taking part in the study, they were debriefed. There was a 98% completion rate. Every eort was made to ensure that students ®lled out the questionnaire accurately and honestly and that they understood the issues involved.
3. Results
3.1. Percentages
Table 1 shows the means where appropriate or percentage answering yes or no for each question. Nearly 90% (86.7) of the respondents claimed to have a regular source of income, the vast majority of which (70%) came from pocket money (around £2.50 or $3.75 per week). Over 90% said they received money as a Christmas and birthday present, receiving over ®ve weeks pocket money equivalent on birthdays, and about four weeks pocket money at Christmas. Most respondents (80%) noted that their parents would not give them more money if they spent it all, con®rming their middle class status. Just under three quarters (72.5%) claimed that they lent money to friends, but just over half (54.25%) claimed that they borrowed money from friends.
Table 1
Results for each question. Mean responses or percentages as well as the results from the two way (Sex ´Age) Analysis of Variance. The numbers under the columns sex, age and S´A areFlevels from the ANOVAs. Signi®cance levels: ***p< 0.001, **p< 0.01, *p< 0.05
Yes No Sex Age S´A
(A) Do you have a regular source of income?
86.7% 13.3% 7.37** 0.02 2.87
(B) If yes, please say which of the following sources apply in your case and how much you receive per week in each case
Sex Age S´A Pocket money from parents £2.42 5.73** 27.41*** 4.09*
Part-time jobs 63p 0.02 25.29*** 0.01
Odd jobs around the home 34p 5.13* 0.19 0.88
Full-time holiday job 13p 1.07 0.82 1.93
Yes No Sex Age S´A
Are you usually given money as a Christmas/birthday present?
91.8% 6.1% 3.96* 0.65 1.53
If yes, how much money do you get at Christmas?
£10.50 8.02** 7.16** 1.92
Your birthday £18.90 4.93* 3.68* 1.66
Would your parents give you more money if you had spent it all?
19.3% 80.7% 0.44 2.13 0.08
Do you ever lend money to your friends? 72.5% 27.5% 0.10 1.42 0.37 Do you ever borrow money from your
friends?
54.2% 45.8% 2.08 2.63 1.18
(C) Do you have any money saved? 92.0% 6.9% 0.31 1.45 0.49
Table 1 (Continued)
Yes No
(E) Do you save regularly? 67.1 32.9
(F) If yes, what proportion of what you receive or earn do you generally try to save?
No answer 10.0
25% 5.2
50% 28.0
75% 21.3
Nearly all 10.0
Practically none 25.6
(G) If you do save, why do you save? (tick all that apply)
Parents tell me to 25.9
Friends save 5.4
For something special I want to buy 71.1
For a holiday 18.6
For emergencies 12.9
Simply to have more money 52.9
(H) Do you personally have a bank account? Yes No 66.5 33.5
(I) If no, why don't you have one? (tick all that apply). If yes, go to question K. Don't have enough
money
14.7
Simply haven't got around to getting one 44.0 Banks are never open when I want to use them 0 Don't like having to stand around in long queues waiting to get served 7.1
Don't ®nd them very helpful 8.1
Nobody else in my house has one 3.0
(J) Do you intend to open a new bank account in the next 12 months or so? Yes No 26.3 72.2
(K) If yes at H, how long have you had a bank account?
Less than one year 11.8
1±2 years 17.6
2±4 years 25.7
More than 4 years 37.9
(L) Why did you open a bank account? (tick all that apply)
Parents advised me to open one 26.2
Parents opened one for me 44.3
Advice from school teacher to open one 2.1
Because I got a job that required me to have one 4.2
Because friends had one 5.2
To keep my money safe 54.5
To earn interest on my money 51.8
To have a cheque book 3.7
To have a credit card 11.0
Table 1 (Continued)
Because I can get discounts at certain shops 11.5
Because I saw it advertised 6.3
(N) Have you ever changed from one bank to another? Yes No 20.7 79.3
(O) If yes, why did you do that?
Because I moved house 9.5
Because I did not like my bank 20.9
Because someone told me that another bank was better than the one I was with 13.6 Because my new bank made a special oer 17.2
(P) How often do you go to the branch of the bank where your account is held?
More
(Q) How often do you go into a branch of your bank other than your own branch?
More
(R) About how often do you deposit money in your bank account?
(S) About how often do you withdraw money in cash from your bank account?
(T) About how often do you use your cheque book other than to withdraw money from your bank for yourself?
(U) Have you ever been to your bank for any of the following reasons (tick all that apply)?
To obtain advice about saving money 11.4
To arrange a Standing Order/Direct Debit 7.4
To obtain travellers' cheques 16.0
To get a loan 0.0
To query a bank statement 19.8
To arrange an overdraft 0.0
Because the manager asked to see me 5.0
Yes No
(V) Do you keep a regular check on how much money you have in your bank account?
although a ®fth of them had between, £100 and £500 ($150±$750) in a building society account. About two thirds (67%) claimed to save regularly, with a quarter (25%) saving half of their pocket money, but another quarter of the sample saving almost none (26.5%). The most commonly cited reason for saving (71.1%) was to buy something special. About two thirds (66.5%)
Table 1 (Continued)
If yes, in what way? (please tick all that apply)
Keeping a record in my cheque book each time I use it 14.4 Requesting a bank statement from my branch on a monthly basis 60.9 Requesting a bank statement from my branch whenever I go into it 21.6
Yes No
(W) Have you spent money on any of the following in the last 4 weeks?
Sweets, chocolate, ice-cream etc 81.8 18.2
Comics, magazines 57.1 42.9
Books 24.4 75.6
Cigarettes 8.0 92.0
Compact discs 38.0 60.4
Soft drinks 61.8 38.2
Alcoholic drinks 16.4 83.6
Going to discos etc 26.2 73.8
Bus and train fares 39.6 60.4
Clothes and footwear 44.7 55.4
Cosmetics 23.6 76.4
Records or audio tapes 31.3 68.7
School equipment 24.4 75.6
Admission to sports, eg football, tennis 21.5 78.5
Cinema 37.1 62.9
Video hire 19.3 80.7
Pets 20.0 80.0
Club subscriptions 8.7 91.3
Bicycle 8.4 91.6
Slot machines (Space Invaders, fruit machines etc) 17.1 82.9
Sports equipment 22.2 77.8
Computer equipment or games 18.2 81.8
Presents for other people 60.0 40.0
Others (please specify)
(X) How much money did you receive last week as:
Pocket money/allowance (including money earned for working around the house) £2.67 Money earned from your regular job (if any) £0.70
A gift £0.51
(Y) How much of your money did you spend last week? £1.85
(Z) How much money did youput intoa bank, post of®ce, savings account, building society or other savings scheme,last week?
£0.65
said they had a bank account (though it may well be in their parent's name), and most of those that did not simply reported that they had not go around to opening one. A quarter, in fact, reported that they intended opening a new bank account in the forthcoming year, though there is not way of checking that. Of those that already had a bank account, just over a third (37.9%) reported having it for more than four years.
When asked why they had opened a bank account, ®ve reasons seemed most important: to keep money safe; to earn interest on money; because their parents opened it for them; because their parents advised them to open it; and because there were special oers for young people opening bank ac-counts. Nearly 80% of the respondents held accounts at either one of the big four banks in Great Britain. About a ®fth of the respondents had changed banks for a variety of reasons. Visits to banks were relatively infrequent (once or twice a month). Curiously, the respondents reported withdrawing money more frequently than depositing it, presumably because they depos-ited comparatively large amounts and withdrew small amounts.
Nearly two thirds (63%) claimed to keep a regular check on their bank balance, mainly by requesting a bank statement on a monthly basis. The four items that the respondents most often spent their money on were sweets, chocolate and ice-creams, soft drinks, presents for other people, and comics/ magazines. Finally, asked how much money they received the previous week (including money for household chores), the average amount was, £2.67 ($4.00) which was 25p (40c) more than their weekly pocket money (question B). They claimed to have obtained, in addition, £1.21 through jobs and gifts in the previous week, and spent, 1.85 (on average) in total.
3.2. Sex and age dierences
A series of sex´age ANOVAs were then run on selected questions. They focused particularly on monies received by the participants. They were grouped into two age groups: 11±12 years old (N145) and 14±16 years old (N134).
There were also seven signi®cant age dierences, all concerned with the amount of money children received. Not unsurprisingly, the older children (14±16 years) received more than the younger children (11±12 years) as weekly pocket money (£3.06 vs £1.70) for odd jobs (45p vs 38p) at Christmas, birthdays and the previous week. There were fewer than chance sex´age interactions.
A series of two-way ANOVAs were also completed on various other questions. Because of the problem of type II errors resulting from this rela-tively large number of analyses, only those where the signi®cance level was
p< 0.01 were considered of note. There were, in all, relatively few sex dif-ferences. Females attempted to save a greater proportion of their money than males (F 1;189 8.27,p< 0.01). Males were more likely to personally have
a bank account than females (F 1;240 7.04,p< 0.01). Of those who had
bank accounts, males appeared to have had them for longer than females (F 1;174 8.52,p< 0.001).
Many of the reasons for changing bank yielded signi®cant dierences (question O). Males were more likely to change banks if others told them another one was better (F 1;162 11.70,p< 0.001), if a new bank made a
special offer (F 1;157 9.18, p< 0.01). Males also reported going more
frequently to their branch of the new bank (F 1;167 7.36, p< 0.01), and
other branches (F 1;152 9.11, p< 0.01) more frequently than females
(question P and Q). Males were more likely to use a chequebook to withdraw money (F 1;102 28.88, p< 0.001) and go to the bank for advice about
saving (F 1;174 11.96, p< 0.001).
Predictably, there were also a number of important age dierences, though surprisingly, slightly less so than for sex. Older children were more likely to have a bank account (F 1;238 6.48,p< 0.01); more likely to save a
pro-portion of their pocket money (F 1;189 8.27,p< 0.01); to save simply to
make more money (F 1;220 10.51, p< 0.001). Older children were,
natu-rally, less likely to have their parents open a bank account for them (F 1;178 11.87,p< 0.001); but more likely to open an account because of
the interest rates (F 1;177 7.78, p< 0.01); or to get a credit card
(F 1;177 5.78, p< 0.01). Older children were much more likely to have
gone to their bank for advice than younger children (F 1;102 9.86,
p< 0.01). They were also much more likely to keep a regular check on their bank account than younger children (F 1;182 28.59,p< 0.001). Many of
clothes than younger children. Overall, there were fewer sex and age signi-®cant interactions than one may expect by chance.
3.3. Attitudes to saving and spending
Of the 20 items, those that elicited most agreement were: (10) ``I don't like owing money''; (1) ``It is important to save''; and (20) ``I love shopping''. Those that showed highest disagreement ratings were: (13) ``I wouldn't be without a credit card''; (9) ``I never pay for something if I can get it on credit''; (12) ``I don't care if I don't have much money'' (see Table 2).
A VARIMAX rotated factor analysis was computed on the 20 item scale. Five factors emerged with eigenvalues of 71.00 and which, in total, accounted for half of the explained variance. The ®rst factor had six items loading on it at 30.40, all to do with spending money. The second factor had four items loading on it, all of which were concerned withsaving money. The third factor had ®ve items loading on to it, all of which were concerned with the
me-chanics of banking. The fourth factor had three items loading on it, which
were expressed asindifference to money. The ®nal two item factors contained two items which re¯ectedwork ethic values.
The factor scores were then treated to a sex by age ANOVA. There were main eects for sex on the third (F 2;240 28.58, p< 0.001), fourth
(F 1;237 8.88, p< 0.01) and ®fth (F 1;230 13.90, p< 0.01) factor.
Males endorsed the third factor (mechanics of banking) more than females, but females endorsed the fourth (indifference to money) and the ®fth (work ethic) factor more than males. There were no age or sex´age effects.
3.4. Regressions
Table 2
The results of the VARIMAX analysis of the 20 items and the ANOVA on the factor scores
Items Factors
X SD 1a 2 3 4 5b
(1) It is important to save 4.27 0.84 ÿ15 0.64 22 ÿ20 19 (2) I tend to spend money as soon
as I get it
2.77 1.38 69 ÿ30 ÿ06 00 ÿ20
(3) I believe in putting some money aside for a rainy day
3.18 1.23 0.9 0.66 ÿ13 13 01
(4) When I save, it is usually because I want something special
3.76 1.23 25 ÿ19 39 18 43
(5) I am interested in looking at dierent ways of saving money
2.61 1.33 06 64 15 04 ÿ17
(6) I have always tried to save 3.38 1.30 ÿ27 64 08 ÿ06 03 (7) Money is for spending, not
for holding on to
2.72 1.26 55 ÿ32 ÿ05 ÿ09 ÿ24
(8) Every once in a while, I like to go on a big spending spree
3.56 1.37 68 07 06 ÿ17 35
(9) I never pay for something if I can get credit
2.06 1.18 43 28 17 15 ÿ33
(10) I don't like owing money 4.30 1.22 ÿ03 02 00 05 56 (11) Having a lot of money has
never been my aim in life
2.36 1.28 ÿ13 ÿ11 ÿ13 77 19
(12) I don't care if I don't have much money
2.23 1.21 ÿ07 00 ÿ09 77 13
(13) I wouldn't be without a credit card
1.90 1.23 13 ÿ01 54 ÿ01 06
(14) Everybody should have a bank account
2.87 1.36 06 11 78 ÿ04 08
(15) Modern people use cheques and cards, not cash
3.10 2.38 ÿ01 ÿ18 42 00 ÿ37
(16) I believe in making money work for me
3.42 1.18 16 32 46 ÿ24 ÿ22
(17) You can't get far without a bank account
2.68 1.24 ÿ13 20 71 ÿ04 ÿ04
(18) I never seem to have enough money
3.42 1.35 46 ÿ28 23 ÿ08 ÿ19
(19) I don't believe I will ever be rich 2.75 1.27 00 14 08 64 ÿ25 (20) I love shopping 3.73 1.38 70 ÿ01 10 ÿ08 ÿ25
Eigenvalue 3.06 2.76 1.66 1.34 1.24 Variance 15.3% 13.8% 8.3% 6.7% 6.2%
p< 0.06) and 68.1% of the participants were correctly predicted if one assumed all saved. Three predictor variables were signi®cant: the more money received, less money spent and more money saved the previous week, the more likely they were to be regular savers. When the analysis was repeated with just these three variables the model ®t improved dramatically (v-square11.38,p< 0.001)
The second regression regressed the same ten variables onto the question of how much of their ``regular income'' the participants liked to save. The regression was signi®cant (F 10;250 1.82, p< 0.05) and accounted for
6.8% of the variance. Only two independent factors were signi®cant: the more the participant received the previous week and the more they spent seemed indicative of their regular saving patterns. These two regressions showed a fairly consistent pattern. The total amount of money received, spent and saved in the previous week seemed a good predictor of habitual saving.
Next, in order to examine how the personality money-related behaviours eected monetary attitudes, a series of regressions were done on to each of the factor scores (ten in all), resulting from the two factor analyses (C and D). The independent variables were sex, age, total amount of weekly pocket money received from parents, whether the respondent borrowed and lent money to friends, whether they had a bank account, and the total amount of money they claimed to have spent the previous week. The variables were chosen partly for theoretical reasons and partly because of the distribution of the responses in this study.
Four of the ®ve regressions were signi®cant for the 20 item scale (atti-tudes to spending and saving). For the ®rst factor, spending money, (F 7;189 2.03, p< 0.05; r square0.07), the two predictors were the
amount of money spent the previous week (t1.91, p< 0.05) and the fact they borrowed money from friends (t ÿ1.96, p< 0.05). The third re-gression on the mechanics of banking was also signi®cant (F 7;189 3.65,
p< 0.001; r square0.12). Sex (t ÿ3.42, p< 0.001) and bank account (t ÿ2.96, p< 0.001) were signi®cant, indicating that males with bank accounts endorsed this factor more than females without bank accounts. The fourth factor, indifference to money, was also signi®cant (F 7;189
3.43, p< 0.001; r square0.11), which indicated that younger children (t ÿ2.56, p< 0.01) and those who lent money to their friends (t ÿ2.09,
p< 0.05) were most likely to endorse this factor. The ®nal factor, the work
ethic, was also signi®cant (F 7;185 2.25, p< 0.05), r square0.08),
4. Discussion
This study attempted to examine the monetary and economic attitudes and behaviours of young people, a topic of considerable interest to their parents (Furnham, 1999; Furnham & Thomas, 1984b) as well as researchers. There is no doubt that young people from 11±16 are economically very active, many with part-time jobs and the majority with bank accounts albeit in their parent's name. Whilst the vast majority of their regular income comes from parental allowances, children in this age group still received signi®cant gifts and many had money saved. Most borrowed, lent and saved money, and were clearly very active economic citizens; especially with regard to banking. The study focused on a number of demographic dierences. Sex and age dierences were examined, but not social class, because of the restriction of range in the sample as noted in the introduction. The sample was quite clearly predominantly middle class. Whilst it was expected to ®nd many age dierences due to cognitive maturation, few signi®cant sex dierences were expected (Furnham, 1999). However, what was perhaps an important ®nding was the numerous sex dierences throughout the study. Both books for parents on economic socialisation (Davis & Taylor, 1979; Godfrey, 1993) and studies on adults themselves self-reported behaviour towards their children (Furnham, 1999; Furnham & Thomas, 1984b) show adults feel it is wrong to socialise males and females dierently and hence one should expect few, if any, dierences, particularly in the amounts of money given to children. Yet the literature on a slightly older group ± namely university students, do suggest interesting and important sex dierences. Thus Davies and Lea (1995) found female students were less comfortable with debt and better money managers than a comparable group of males. The literature on adult sex dierences in money beliefs and behaviours however shows many dif-ferences. Furnham and Argyle (1998) review many studies on ``money pa-thology'' which shows that males report greater con®dence, independence of action, risk taking and gambling with respect to money while females show a greater sense of envy and deprivation.
inaccurate reporting. This is, however, in accordance with earlier national surveys, which showed that girls get less pocket money and less odd job money than boys, though recent surveys have shown that this pattern has, if anything, reversed (Walls, 1996).
Other sex dierences appeared to indicate that females were more eco-nomically conservative and less ecoeco-nomically active than males. The inter-pretation of the results from all the sections looking at beliefs and behaviours seemed to suggest that males were more interested in, and involved with, money and economic issues. They seemed more interested and assertive, especially with banking, and to have a greater belief in the economic system than females. Whilst these results are consistent and interesting, it is not at all clear as to their origin, or indeed, how they are maintained (Abramovitch et al., 1991). Yet in their review of children and adolescents understanding on the nature of work Bowes and Goodnow (1996) found extensive evidence of gender dierences in understanding the nature of work, non-work and re-ward for work. Thus adolescents when looking at work dier considerably: females opt for people-oriented work values while males value money status and security. Certainly it seems as children get older and have an increased understanding of their social world they may be more prone to develop the gender-linked stereotypical behaviours acceptable in their society.
Inevitably, there were numerous age dierences, given that the participants in this sample were aged between 11 and 16. The results showed that older children received more money from pocket money, part-time jobs, Christmas and birthday gifts. They were also, naturally, more involved in all economic activities. They saved more, did more banking-related activities, and spent their money rather dierently on dierent items, as may be expected (Furn-ham & Argyle, 1998).
that the money would be banked for them by parents. Further if the sum were reasonably signi®cant (over £20) a cheque was used for security. However both of these factors are likely to be class linked. Part-time jobs appear as much smaller sources of income, though this clearly changes as children get older (Bowes & Goodnow, 1996).
Just over four-®fths of the children reported that their parents would not give them additional money (during the week) if it ran out, re¯ecting tradi-tional, middle-class beliefs about using pocket money to teach children about postponement of grati®cation (Furnham, 1999). Another way, of course, is to encourage saving. It is interesting to note that most children aimed to save rather to lend to, or borrow from, their friends, and that none of these economic activities was related to sex or age (Furnham & Argyle, 1998).
Over 90% of the sample claimed to have money saved. Two-thirds said they saved regularly, and nearly half claimed to save between 50% and 75% of their income though this may well be an over-exaggeration. Nearly two-thirds of the sample claimed to have a bank account and over a third said that they had had it for more than four years. This may re¯ect banks' ea-gerness to sign up young people into special schemes aimed at them. They do this presumably because they know that the majority of people still do not change bank accounts which are often opened on a whim, or because of an advertised gift or special oer. Indeed, about as many respondents said they opened a bank account because their parents advised it as said they did so because of the special oers from the banks. However, most of the respon-dents claimed they saved to buy something special or to keep their money safe. What is perhaps surprising from the results is how often children visit banks and check their statements. For over half, this seems a regular monthly activity of some considerable interest to them. This may, of course, re¯ect either the nature of this particular sample or the fact that some respondents are not reporting honestly.
predictors of monetary beliefs. Indeed, it would be surprising if it were otherwise. This, of course, leads to the well-established problem of the re-lationship between attitudes and behaviour and the causal links between them. What the regressions did show was that total income from pocket money was not a good predictor of saving attitudes, but rather how children used their money and how much they spent, lent, borrowed or saved. Yet their total income was the best predictor of the regularity of saving and the proportion saved.
As Gunter and Furnham (1998) have shown, the children's market is substantial and growing. Advertisers, manufacturers and ®nancial institu-tions have not been slow at recognising the importance of attracting and socialising the young consumer. Understanding what young people do, and understanding the market place, is therefore of considerable interest to ap-plied researchers as well as those interested in the theoretical question. This study goes some way to answering some of these issues, but inevitably re-quires extension and replication.
This study was not without its limitations. The ®rst problem was that it looked at a fairly small homogenous middle class sample of English chil-dren, who seemed to be surprisingly active savers. It is doubtful if a mat-ched group of working class children would be such active or enthusiastic savers or indeed have so much money saved. A second problem lies in the questionnaire method and the possibility of random or social desirabilitly responding. Whilst there was no reason in this study to doubt the validity of the teacher administered and supervised method some of the results did appear somewhat inconsistent. The sample certainly gave the impression of interacting frequently with their bank (checking statements etc.) very reg-ularly and nearly 10% reporting having large amounts of money in the bank. It is possible that some of the questions on banking and saving were inaccurately answered. It is clearly desirable to have collaborative evidence ± possibly from banks themselves ± on saving patterns of children and adolescents.
Acknowledgements
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